Macy's to build at Gurnee Mills
Macy's Inc. will open a full-line department store at Gurnee Mills in what is touted as a new dimension for the maturing discount center.
In an announcement Monday, the renowned retailer said it would open new stores at Gurnee Mills and Southridge Mall in Greendale, Wis., both being redeveloped by the Simon Property Group.
Ecstatic Gurnee officials said the news was the culmination of nearly two years of discussion. The village will give unspecified incentives to Simon for the project, which will result in a new wing of full-price stores at Gurnee Mills to be anchored by Macy's.
The Gurnee Mills' Macy's will be 140,000 square feet and employ about 200 people when it opens in spring 2013 on the south side of the property between entrances C and D. A vacant Circuit City store will be razed, with Macy's taking its place as part of Gurnee Mills upgrade.
“I'm very excited,” Mayor Kristina Kovarik said. “I'm just thrilled for the community. It just means so much for that whole retail corridor.”
Macy's operates 14 full service stores in the Chicago area, including one at Westfield Hawthorn mall in Vernon Hills. The last Chicago-area store to open was in spring 2007 at The Promenade Bolingbrook.
“This is an addition to the market. We feel we can be viable in Gurnee Mills without taking anything away from the other stores,” said Andrea Schwartz, spokeswoman for Macy's.
The company said it considers the Gurnee area an important market that has untapped potential for growth. “There is opportunity in Gurnee,” Schwartz said.
The Gurnee- and Milwaukee-area stores will offer apparel for men, women and kids, as well as housewares and other items.
The company two weeks ago announced sales rose nearly 6 percent in the first part of 2011 compared with a year earlier, and that dividends to shareholders were doubled.
Gurnee Mills is in the midst of an $8 million upgrade including parking lots and lighting outside, and restrooms inside. No estimate of the cost of the Macy's-anchored wing was available, but the village will provide some incentive to Simon.
“There will be some public money incentives,” Kovarik said. How much that will be or what form it will take has not been finalized, she added.
That Macy's would connect to a discount-oriented mall shows a shift in the retail landscape, according to Kovarik and others.
“I think this just gives them some growth opportunities in places where they aren't,” said Will Ander, a senior partner with McMillan/Doolittle LLP, a Chicago-based retail consultant. “I think there's a whole new plan to reinvigorate Gurnee Mills and this is part of it.”
Adding Macy's will create a “true hybrid destination” for shoppers, according to Gregg Goodman, president of The Mills, a Simon company, that operates 16 “value-oriented” centers throughout the country.
“The most frequent request we get is to have true one-stop shopping incorporating the best of retail,” he said in a statement. “Macy's clearly will push the success of Gurnee Mills to new heights.”